Malaysian history reflects influence of the long succession of its immigrants and
invaders. Both immigrants and invaders brought with them their unique culture
which had big effect on Malaysian culture. Migration and colonialism had the
biggest impact on creating such a multicultural and diverse country.
One of the most important events in Malaysian history took place in 1957 when
Malaysia gained independence from the British and become an independent
country. On this day Malaysia was born again for the second time. But that
wasn’t the end of the troubles for Malaysia. New Malaysia was a country with a
mixture of people from many different cultures. Ethnic diversity caused lots of
economic and political disputes among nations. The biggest disputes were among
Chinese and Malays, as the Chinese resented the political power of the Malays
and the Malays envied the economic success of the Chinese.3
However, those disputes had positive outcome in Malaysia. The Malaysian
realised that if they want to make a powerful and economically stable country
they need to put all cultural differences behind and unite their forces. They
created a greater unity and stability which resulted in rapid economical
development and prosperity.
In order to strengthened a national unity in Malaysian cosmopolitan society the
Malaysian also introduced principles enshrined in the Rukunegara in Aug 31st
The Essay on Five Years Malaysia Country Home
by: Woo Tai Kwan (First prize winner in the STAR 25 th anniversary essay competition (Category C - adults) Should a fairy godmother suddenly appear before me with a crystal ball, a magic wand and a world atlas, and give me the liberty to select the country I'd like to live in 25 years from now, without a second's hesitation, I would point to that small nondescript, elongated peninsula straddling ...
,
1970:
Our nation, Malaysia is dedicated to:
Achieving a greater unity for all her peoples
Maintaining a democratic way of life
Creating a just society in which the wealth of the nation shall be equitably distributed
Ensuring a liberal approach to her rich and diverse cultural traditions
Building a progressive society which shall be orientated to modern science and technology
Rukunegara , Aug 31st
, 1970
Malaysia had been invaded and occupied but still managed to keep its unique
culture and to cherish traditions and rituals. Many other nations immigrated to
Malaysia where they earned a significant position. Even tough the Malay culture
survived and stayed dominating culture in Malaysia.
3. FACTORS THAT SHAPED MALAYSIAN CULTURE
6
3.1.1. Immigration
Immigration is usually considered as being bad for the country, especially for the
economy. On the one hand it is believed to cause lots of concerns and issues
related to labour market competition. But on the other hand it must be one of the
most significant factors that shaped culture. Immigration brought both: new
traditions, habits, language rituals and had a big impact on art, music and
cuisine.
First Malaysian immigrants came from South India initiating more than one
century of Indian influence. They brought with them their Hindu culture
characterized by Indian festivals and fashion rich in tradition and colours.
Another wave of Indian immigrants came during colonization. The Portuguese
brought them as cheap labour for the rubber plantations. One of the main
reasons why the Indians willingly left their homeland for Malaya was because of
the caste system being practised in their country. Under the system, those who
are born into the lower castes could never improve their standing in society. 4
Today Indian community is smaller than the other two main ethnic groups but
still remains strong and affect a great part of Malaysian culture.
The next ones who came to Malaysia were the Chinese, who were looking for
wealth in local mines. At the beginning Chinese were only labourers but soon
The Essay on Literature as a Medium Which Conveys the Culture of the Target Language
The purpose of this paper is to familiarize foreign language instructors with the effectiveness of using literature as a mean of bridging the cultural gap between students and the target language. It will also discuss how teaching literature can help students become more effective communicators in the target language and at the same time making them appreciate other cultures different from their ...
they dominated economy and trade. The Chinese brought with them their own
unique culture, way of life affecting traditional belief and rituals in Malaysian
culture. In comparison to Indians, the Chinese put themselves in much better
position. They dominated most of the economy and trade in Malaysia and they
become, next to Malay, the strongest ethnic group in the country.
3.1.2. Colonisation
Colonisation influenced Malaysian culture significantly. It altered the law,
language and economy. First Malaysia was colonized by the Dutch who were
attracted by Malaysian trade. After 150 years of Dutch rule they traded Malacca
(old name for Malaysia) with the British for Bencoolen, Sumatra.
5
The British
ruled there for many years. During the Second World War the Japanese occupied
Malaysia. After the occupation the Malaysian started to rebel and protest. The
British lost all control over Malaysia and they were forced to give independence
to Malay.
The Western influence remains very strong until today. This can be seen in
Malaysian government system which has adopted western legal system based on
the English common law.
4. http://www.allmalaysia.info/msiaknow/ethnicity/indian_ethnicity.asp FACTORS THAT SHAPED MALAYSIAN CULTURE
7
Another thing that reflects the west is fashion and music but this is rather due to
media and technology than colonialism. This is seen best among younger
generations, especially Chinese, who are faithful followers of western way of life
and culture.
When the British came they built churches trying to reinforce Christianity. As
they failed, today the percentage of the Christians is very small.
The greatest heritage from the British was English language. English is widely
used in Malaysian trade and is the second most important language in the
country. English also contributed to Bahasa Malaysia language (language of
Malays).Malay adopted some English words and combined them with their own
language. For example word “Click” would be translated as “Klik” in Basha
The Essay on Foreign Language and English
Nowadays, almost six thousands languages are spoken in different countries. And unfortunately, half of them are in danger of defunctness. Certainly, the disappearance of a language can be attributed to the system of communication. However, one can say that it is a loss of culture and expression of human experience. According to Baldwin (2006) “foreign language is a language not spoken by the ...
Malaysia.
The British also introduced Roman alphabet which replaced Arabic alphabet and
became a standard writing system in Malaysia.
The Malaysian economical performance used to be based on raw commodities
such as tin, rubber and timber. The British were the first to introduce rubber
trees from Brazil and establish rubber plantations in late 1800’s and early
1900’s.6
.
Surprisingly, the British didn’t have much influence on rituals, cuisine or
traditions. The Malaysian resistance towards the British must have been too
strong. However, they left some trace on Malaysian culture introducing new
language, religion and alphabet. In order to provide labour for mines and rubber
plantations the British imported Chinese and Indian workers.
